Social Networks of West African Forced Migrants

西非被迫移民的社交网络

• 批准号: 8770700
• 负责人: Andrew Edward Rasmussen
• 金额: $ 36.95万
• 依托单位: FORDHAM UNIVERSITY
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2014
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2014-08-18 至 2018-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/8770700
• 关键词: Accounting; Africa; African; Anxiety; Blood Pressure; Body mass index; Cardiovascular system; Characteristics; Communities; Conflict (Psychology); Country; Data; Ecology; Elements; Emotional; Equilibrium; Ethnic Origin; Event; Exhibits; Exposure to; Family; Funding; Health; Heart Rate; Immigrant; Immigration; Individual; Institution; Intervention; Intervention Studies; Left; Link; Measures; Mental Depression; Mental Health; Mental disorders; Native-Born; New York; New York City; Nomads; Outcome; Pathway Analysis; Pattern; Personal Satisfaction; Physiological; Population; Post-Traumatic Stress Disorders; Psyche structure; Public Health; Publishing; Recording of previous events; Refugees; Research; Research Personnel; Social Behavior; Social Network; Source; Stress; Symptoms; Trauma; Universities; Volunteer Organization; Vulnerable Populations; Work; biobehavior; community organizations; density; design; displaced person; help-seeking behavior; innovation; knowledge base; member; migration; physical conditioning; professor; programs; psychologic; psychological distress; public health relevance; social; social health determinants

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The purpose of this R15 proposal is to (1) introduce social network analysis (SNA) into the study of forced migrants, (2) compare forced migrants' networks to culturally comparable voluntary migrants' networks, and (3) measure structural effects of these networks on biobehavioral outcomes (psychological distress and cardiovascular measures). Although 30 years of research on forced migrant populations (refugees, asylum seekers) has established that they are characterized by high rates of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression and trauma-related physical ailments and that these health problems are associated with high rates of exposure to trauma3, considerable variance in health outcomes remains unexplained. We propose that much of this unexplained variance is best accounted for by the social ecological damage that occurs during displacement5. Central to individuals' social ecologies are their social networks. Social networks have been linked to multiple health outcomes among native-born populations12, and are particularly important for help seeking among immigrant populations19-22. We propose that social networks are damaged during forced migration and that this damage has measureable effects on forced migrants' mental and physical well-being that goes beyond the effects of exposure to trauma alone. In order to appropriately describe forced migrants' networks within a meaningful context, we must compare their networks to networks of individuals who have also immigrated and have similar patterns of social behavior. We therefore propose to study the social networks of forced migrants by comparing them to networks of voluntary migrants within a single West African immigrant community - the Fulani. The Fulani ethnic community in New York City is characterized by substantial numbers of both forced and voluntary migrants, and hails from countries across West Africa, a region with a recent history of widespread political conflict and outmigration. Our preliminary studies with Fulani and other West African communities in New York has established that, like many new migrants, individuals and families within the Fulani community rely on social networks much more than on official public health sources when seeking help, and that forced migrants rely on a smaller number of institutions than voluntary migrants to support their families' needs. The research proposed here is foundational in that its purpose is to establish a base of knowledge upon which intervention research can be built.

描述（由申请人提供）：本R15提案的目的是(1)将社会网络分析（SNA）引入被迫移民的研究中，(2)将被迫移民网络与文化上可比较的自愿移民网络进行比较，(3)测量这些网络对生物行为结果（心理困扰和心血管测量）的结构影响。尽管对被迫移徙人口（难民、寻求庇护者）30年的研究已经确定，他们的特点是创伤后应激障碍（PTSD）、抑郁症和与创伤有关的身体疾病发病率高，而且这些健康问题与创伤暴露率高有关3，但健康结果的巨大差异仍然无法解释。我们认为，这种无法解释的差异很大程度上可以用流离失所期间发生的社会生态破坏来解释。个人社会生态的核心是他们的社会网络。在本地出生的人群中，社交网络与多种健康结果有关12，对移民人群寻求帮助尤其重要19-22。我们认为，在被迫迁移期间，社会网络受到了破坏，这种破坏对被迫迁移者的精神和身体健康产生了可衡量的影响，而不仅仅是暴露于创伤的影响。为了在有意义的背景下恰当地描述被迫移民的网络，我们必须将他们的网络与同样移民并具有相似社会行为模式的个人网络进行比较。因此，我们建议研究强迫移民的社会网络，将其与西非单一移民社区（富拉尼）的自愿移民网络进行比较。纽约市的富拉尼族社区的特点是大量被迫和自愿移民，他们来自西非各国，这个地区最近有广泛的政治冲突和外迁的历史。我们对纽约富拉尼和其他西非社区的初步研究表明，与许多新移民一样，富拉尼社区的个人和家庭在寻求帮助时更多地依赖社交网络，而不是官方的公共卫生来源，被迫移民比自愿移民依赖较少的机构来支持其家庭需求。这里提出的研究是基础性的，因为它的目的是建立一个知识基础，在此基础上可以建立干预研究。